Kaufbeuren is an independent town in the Regierungsbezirk of Swabia, Bavaria. The town is an enclave within the district of Ostallgäu.

The Research Office of the Reich Air Ministry was the signals intelligence and cryptanalytic agency of the German Nazi Party from 1933 to 1945. Run since its inception by Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring, the Research Bureau was a Nazi Party institution rather than an official Wehrmacht-run military signals intelligence and cryptographic agency.